To See the Stars
by Lyka98
Summary: She doesn't need to see the stars when there's one right in front of her. Takes place in Zaofu before the Red Lotus kidnapping attempt.


To See the Stars

Night falls over Zaofu and the domes shut over the city. _To shut out the world or shut us from the world? _The Avatar is a free spirit, and she does not like to be confined, no matter how glorious the cell. Sleep fails to grace Korra with its presence.

Her mind drifts aimlessly between the problems of the airbenders, the vines, the mysterious Zaheer, getting banned from Republic City, the failure, the darkness, the pain, _am I a good Avatar?_ It's all too much and she can't take it anymore. Korra grabs her glider and storms out, ignoring Naga's concerned whine. She needs to clear her head.

She glides to the top of a bridge in Zaofu in her pajamas with her airbending. _The element of freedom. _Shutting her glider, the young Avatar sits with her arms encircling her knees and looks up, yearning for the constellations she used to view back home in the South. But, just like in Republic City, the surroundings of the city are disappointing. She can bend the elements but she cannot bend the world to her will. The dome shuts her off from the cosmos. She'll have to find her own stars tonight.

Cobalt eyes search through the hush of the city, searching for something, someone. Her own star. The shine of the metal is not suitable enough; its artificial, its cold, most importantly, its not _her._

A flash of pink floats through the courtyard from the sleeping quarters to the main compound carrying what looks to be several scrolls with vehicle designs imprinted in them.

Asami, Korra's star. _Her _with the green eyes and the wavy hair and the heart that makes her shine brighter than the skies of home. _Her_ with the passion for engineering, for racing, for suceeding. _Her_ who gives even the Avatar, master of all four elements, a run for her money when they spar and Asami gives her _that_ look. _Her _who, despite the muddy past with Mako, has become her best friend in this life, and she knows they were destined to be connected in this world. She is the supernova that burns Korra, melts her insides into pure love with that smile.

A tug pulls at Korra's heart that compels her to follow, but she knows that she should not. This is a love that cannot be, that shouldn't be. What would everyone say? What would _Asami_ say? But the thought only serves to encourage her. She wants to-no, she _needs _to know.

But the pink of Asami's nightgown, that article of clothing that Korra knows _very_ well (because, damn), disappears into the main building before she can build the nerve to intercept her...that is until she sees the small book fall to the ground as Asami walks through the door.

Curiosity (and maybe just a dash of obessession) overcomes Korra's not-so-innate moral obligation of allowing someone their privacy. This, after all, Miss Asami So-Perfect-That-She-Turns-The-Avatar-Master-Of-All-Freakin-Elements-Into-Sea-Prune-Stew Sato. Ignoring the voice whispering _stop being nosy and go back to meditating on your inner balance _that sounded suspiciously like Tenzin, Korra reopened her glider and softly landed in the courtyard by the little book.

With her eyes darting around every few seconds, she slowly and quietly picks up the book, flipping through it. As expected the majority of the book is full of sketches of Satomobile improvements, airship desings, biplanes, a drawing of Korra, wait what?

She flips back to the page she just passed, a meticulously detailed and breathtaking sketch, well, more like work of art, covering the page. And while the Avatar's ego may have some part in it, she can't help but feel like Asami has done her more justice than what she is really.

The majority of the page is black, with bright stars accenting the background. The classic Avatar State element sphere surrounds her body as it is suspended in the air, except, different. The glow is gone and instead of Raava and her past lives in control it's just...Korra. Her with her blue eyes and her face set into a look of determination with a hint of a smirk. Her expression is the most focused part of the drawing, made to shine through the elements swirling around her. They almost seem insignificant. This version of Korra looks so...confident...but real Korra is nothing like Asami's Korra (she wishes that could be true).

She lowers the book and wishes she could be like _that_ Korra again. Strong Korra. Korra that felt like she could do anything, be anything, save the world. But has she? Can she? In the past year she lost her bending only to be saved by a past life, then proceeded to lose _all_ her lives and almost let Raava be destroyed in the process, then opened the spirit portals and completely changed a world that, so far, has made it clear that it didn't _want_ to change.

She left her room earlier to clear her head but so far that has been failing. Korra looks back down at the drawing. While she doesn't love herself much at this moment, the skill and talent behind it makes her love Asami that much more. _I wish I could be the Avatar she deserves._ Her lips curl down with the weight of self-pity.

"That bad huh?" She feels like she jumps ten feet in the air before she whirls around.

"Asami!" Her face feels hot. "I uhhhh...found your book?" She pathetically holds the now closed book out in front of her, trying (and failing...Spirits, she's failing) to act like she hadn't seen anything, but the taller girl doesn't take it.

"I go to put away some diagrams and here you are preying on my privacy"

"Sorry! I-"

"Shhh don't freak out...or wake up the city." Asami smiles that perfect smile and Korra feels her heart skip a beat and shock warmth through her system. "It's okay if you saw it Korra, you're not the one who should be embarassed." The engineer bites her lip slightly. Mercy.

"You shouldn't be...it's...it's amazing. You're amazing." Crap. She nervously opens the book back up the drawing. "Uh, I mean...you're talented 'Sami. I didn't know you could draw." Though really, it's not a surprise. With all that time she must spend sketching neat specific diagrams of Satomobiles and ships, and the fact that she's amazing, it's no wonder that she's able create something beautiful like art.

Asami's cheeks redden, just enough so that Korra might have missed it if she wasn't so hypersensitive to all things Sato. "Thanks...but I just drew what I always see."

"What do you mean?" She certainly didn't make a habit of rolling around in element balls like an Avatar State Hamster.

"You." Oh. "Everyone else sees your power from the elements, they see the past Avatars, they see Raava, they see some superhuman being in the stars, but that's not what I see." Oh. "But what they don't see, is what _we_ see. What the people that love you," her heart skips another beat, "see. It's not The Avatar that puts you in the stars. It's you."

If Korra's face was hot before it was Sozin's Comet now. "...You really think so?" Asami steps closer and suddenly the air feels richer, gravity is stronger. The engineer places a hand on Korra's shoulder and locks green eyes onto blue. If her heart skips another beat, it may go into cardiact arrest.

"I know so." Her green eyes twinkle with a hint of laughter. "Don't tell me that you, of all people, have forgotten how strong you are? Look up." Korra complies. It's not like she can ever say no to this girl. "No stars right?"

"No."

"Well you don't need them. And neither do I. I've got my own right in front of me."

Korra looks back into those endless green eyes and becomes lost in her supernova. "Same here."

Blue and green become lost in one another, blending into each other. The cosmos could not match this beauty.

Asami leans in and moves the hand on Korra's shoulder to the shorter girl's chin, lifting it up. Their breath mixes together and Korra feels hotter than she ever has before, hyperaware of the hand now on her waist and her chin, her own wrapped under and around slim but strong arms and back.

She presses her lips to Asami's and feels her heart and soul burst into radiance. Everything is Asami and nothing could ever shine like her. Her blood is fire, her heart pure light, this moment is perfect. Not even the Avatar State is as incandescent as this, as _her_, as _them._

As she melts into Asami, Korra realizes that she didn't need to see the stars tonight. She needed those green eyes that lit her into a blaze of her own.


End file.
